Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Spanish: Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) is the supreme court of Mexico and the head of the judicial branch of the Mexican federal government. It consists of eleven judges, known as ministers, one of whom is designated the court's president.

Judges of the SCJN are appointed for 15 years. They are confirmed by the Senate from a list proposed by the President of the Republic. From among their number, the ministers elect the President of the Court to serve a four-year period; a given minister may serve more than one term as president, but not in consecutive periods.

The court itself is located just off the main plaza of Mexico City on the corners of Pino Suarez and Carranza Streets. It was built between 1935 and 1941 by Antonio Muñoz Garcia. Prior to the Conquest, this site was reserved for the ritual known as "Dance of the Flyers" which is still practiced today in Papantla. Hernán Cortés claimed the property after the Conquest and its ownership was in dispute during much of the colonial period with Cortes' heirs, the city government, and the Royal and Pontifical University all claiming rights. It was also the site of a very large market known as El Volador.

The interior of the building contains four panels painted in 1941 by José Clemente Orozco, two of which are named "The Social Labor Movement" and "National Wealth." There is also one mural done by American artist George Biddle entitled "War and Peace" at the entrance to the library. The building also contains a mural by Rafael Cauduro, which "graphically illustrates the Gran Guignol of Mexican torture", and includes a depiction of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre as well as "a cut-away of a prison, perhaps the infamous Lecumberri Black Palace where the student leaders who escaped death were jailed."

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